( outfit for
chapter above )

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chapter twelve
bloodlust.

        "The snow is sticking."

Christina frowned and looked over at Bella. She was looking out the window, watching the first snowfall of the year. The mother of two got up from the couch, leaving the kids to play with themselves as she walked closer to Carlisle. He immediately wrapped an arm around her shoulders, bringing her into his chest.

"We still have today," Edward tried comforting — though it didn't work for any of the vampires, nor wolves, who were listening in on their conversation.

Bella sighed before turning around. A small smile appeared on her face as she looked towards Charlie. "I'm so glad Charlie found someone to take care of him."

Christina smiled at her sister as she too, looked towards their father. Charlie was extremely excited the last time they came over before the holiday. Sue's cousin, Margaret — Marg, for short — had come home for the holidays. She and Charlie had hit it off quickly. Christina had never seen her father so happy — besides the time Bella and Christina decided to return home.

Marg fits into the family quite well. She was a fun-loving person, easy to talk to, and definitely kept Charlie on his toes.

"Bella, no one's giving up here," Christina muttered quietly. She refused to give up. Christina couldn't take it if she had to say goodbye to her children.

Charlie clapped his hands together as he walked into the living room from the kitchen. "All right! Present time! Let's go!" He sat down in his normal recliner. "Seth, Leah, stop eating. Jake, you start. Get it going."

Christina chuckled at her father's enthusiasm.

"What did you get me?" Seth asked cheekily towards Leah.

She grunted in response. "I'm not giving you anything."

"Hey!" Seth complained. "No, come on, what did you get me?"

"Well, dad, we didn't have time to wrap yours," Bella started as she leaned forward to give Charlie an envelope. "But here it is."

He furrowed his brows as he looked down at the paper. Marg sat on his lap as she looked over his shoulder knowingly. Another good thing about Marg — she already knew about the supernatural.

It was quite a shock for Marg once she met the family, and especially the extended family, but after talking with Harry and Sue about it, she stayed open-minded to the situation.

"It's a five-day fishing trip to Fraser River," Christina explained as she watched his confused look at the tickets. "It's for you and Marg."

"You leave tomorrow," Carlisle mentioned. He tightened his hold on Christina's waist as she tensed.

"Wow, that's really nice," Charlie's muttered. "Thank you. Tomorrow? I can't leave tomorrow —"

"I already made arrangements for you at work," Bella interrupted with a grin.

Charlie grunted lowly. "Sneaky. And extravagant."

"And non-refundable, I'm afraid," Edward smirked.

"You four trying to get rid of me?" Charlie asked, looking between the two married couples. They all went quiet, biting their tongues as Charlie started to grin. "Because it's working!"

Christina let out her breath slowly, thankful that he wasn't catching on to their worries.

"Fraser River. That means we'll be catching Cutthroat," Charlie thought out loud, looking up at Marg.

She nodded her head with a grin. Her brown curls dancing around her face with each bob. "We might even hook a Rainbow or some Bulls."

Charlie grinned as he looked towards his daughters. "Woman knows her trout."

Christina chuckled. She leaned forward and patted Charlie's shoulder before kneeling next to Annie and Greyson. They were both playing with some of the toys that they received for Christmas, but it was the necklace that hung around Annie's neck that caught her attention.

She swallowed around the lump that appeared in her throat as she looked at the craved wolf that hung around her neck. She looked up at Seth wordlessly, who had a matching frown on his face.

"Momma, look! Grandpa got us nerf guns!"

Christina smiled down at Greyson as he held up the plastic guns, only making Charlie smirk in recognition. She turned her head over her shoulder and narrowed her eyes jokingly at his smirk on his face. "Nice, dad."

"What?"

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        Jacob sighed deeply as he finished setting up the fire pit in the middle of the field. Benjamin was quick to help out, using his elemental powers to set the wood ablaze. Jacob smiled brightly as he sat down on the log in front of the bonfire.

"That's what I'm talking about. A little pre-battle bonfire. Telling war stories." He drifted off as he looked around the field, noticing none of the vampires were coming closer to the fire.

"Or just standing there like frickin' statues," he grumbled.

Christina chuckled as she walked closer to the bonfire with Greyson and Annie following behind her. She sat down next to Seth as Annie jumped into his lap for warmth. Greyson curled up into his mother's arms, watching the fire in front of them flicker.

"Name any American battle. I was there," Garrett stated as he sat down on a log in front of the fire.

"Little Bighorn," Christina spoke up.

He frowned, holding out his hand, showing his pointer finger and thumb close together. "I came this close to biting Custer. But the Indians got him first."

Kate appeared in a blink of an eye. She took a seat on Garrett's lap. "Try Oleg's assault on Constantinople. He didn't win that one on his own."

Liam, from the Irish coven, popped in with a bright smirk on his face. "If you're talking battles, you're talking the Eleven Years' war. No one does the rebellion like the Irish."

"You lost the Eleven Years' War," Garrett pointed out with a laugh.

Liam nodded. "Aye, but it was one hell of a rebellion."

Christina chuckled as she buried her head into Greyson's hair. As more of the vampires formed a circle around the bonfire, both Annie and Greyson started falling asleep during the stories that were being told.

"When we ruled, everything came to us," Vladimir stated slowly. "Prey, diplomats, favor seekers. Such was our power. But we never put on hats and called ourselves saints."

Stefan nodded his head in agreement. "We were honest about what we were."

Vladimir frowned. "We sat still for a very long time. We didn't notice we were beginning to petrify."

"Perhaps the Volturi did us a favor when they burned our castles," Stefan shrugged.

"We've been waiting fifteen-thousand years to return that favor. We have been ready to do battle for ages," Vladimir explained.

Christina picked her head up from resting it on the top of Greyson's sleeping head. She nodded her head to Seth as he helped place Annie into her arms, gently to not wake her up.

"See you on the battlefield," he whispered.

Christina frowned deeply as she watched him phase into the woods and took off towards La Push. A quick goodbye to his family, for the worst-case scenario.

The mother of two turned around and walked towards the big tent they set up for the children to sleep in. She gave Carlisle a small smile as she passed, letting him and Edward have their personal chat together.

Christina walked into the tent, giving Bella a nod. The youngest Swan was petting her daughter's hair as she slept, worrying about the next morning.

Christina tried not to think too hard about the next morning as she placed both of her children into their sleeping bags. She sat down next to Bella as they looked over their children.

Bella wordlessly grabbed two book bags that were next to her before slipping them towards Christina. The mother furrowed her brows as she took a hold of one of them and opened it. She dug around inside before her fingers caught onto something small. She lifted the blue book to her face with a deep frown.

Annabelle Wolfe. Next to the name, it had a picture of Annie and her date of birth. It had all the correct information for a passport.

Christina didn't need to open the other bag to understand Bella's silent explanation. She slipped the passport back into the bag, trying to hold back the tearless sob that wanted to escape her throat.

The children, along with Jacob and Seth, would be taking off if tomorrow went sourly. If a fight started to break out, the two wolves would take the children and hide — and they could only hope to be found by the parents afterward.

"I trust them," Christina muttered quietly into the dark. She blinked back the venom that surrounded her eyes as she looked towards Bella. "It"ll be okay."

"I never got to thank you," Bella whispered. She turned her golden eyes towards her older sister. "For dragging me to Forks. I've gotten absolutely everything I could have ever wanted and more... and I wouldn't have done it if it wasn't for you."

A cry escaped Christina's throat at Bella's words, not expecting the sentimental goodbye.

"This isn't a goodbye," Christina whispered. She wanted to stay hopeful for the outcome. "We'll see another sunrise." She faced Bella a watery smile. "We'll be stuck together forever — we'll get so sick of each other."

Bella gave her a watery smile back. "Forever."

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        Christina bit her lip harshly as the witnesses and her family stood around the giant field. It was the same field that they used for the battle with the newborns. She tried not to think about how destructive the outcome of that battle turned out to be.

She tightened her hand around Carlisle's. They had a wordlessly goodbye this morning, just in case, it turned out to be a fight. She refused to cry. She cried enough with Bella the night previous.

"If we live through this, I'll follow you anywhere, woman," Garrett muttered down to Kate. They were holding hands in the frontline with the rest of the Cullen's and Denali's — family standing together one last time.

Kate scoffed with a smile on her face. "Now you tell me."

Christina froze as foot crunching against snow was heard throughout the field. She was quick to pull Greyson closer to her. Annie was hidden behind Carlisle's legs. Both children knew that trouble was coming.

Greyson whimpered lowly as he wrapped his arms around his mother's waist. Christina frowned as she laid a hand on the top of his head. Her golden eyes were narrowed at the dark group that stopped at the other end of the field.

"The Redcoats are coming. The Redcoats are coming," Garrett muttered lowly, bouncing on his feet.

Christina's eyes swept over the Volturi's guard and witnesses. They outnumbered their group by a great margin. It only made her worried if it came down to a fight. She only hoped that most of them would run instead of fight.

"Aro's looking for Alice," Edward muttered, getting a read off of the leader's mind.

As the Volturi stop walking, the two wolves packs came out from the woods. It made Christina's anxiety for down, just a smidge.

Seth stopped on Carlisle's left side, completely blocking Annie from view. Christina gave him a thankful glance before looking back towards Aro.

Carlisle gave Christina's hand one last squeeze before letting go and walking forward. Christina's hand reached out to grip Seth's fur, needing something to hold onto.

"Aro," Carlisle called out. "Let us discuss things as we used to. In a civilized manner."

Aro hummed lowly. "Fair words, Carlisle. But a little out of place, given the battalion you've assembled against us."

"I can promise you, that was never my intent," Carlisle replied. "No laws have been broken."

"We see the children. Do not treat us as fools!" Caius snapped, pointing between Nessie and Greyson.

Christina pulled Greyson behind her as Caius' red eyes landed on him. She withheld a growl lingering in the back of her throat — feeling the threat of her babies.

"They are not immortal!" Carlisle shouted, looking around the opposite field. He waved his hand to his side of the field. "These witnesses can attest to that. Or you can look. See the flush of human blood on their cheeks."

"Artifice!" Caius sneered, refusing to believe Carlisle.

"I will collect every facet of the truth," Aro stated, holding his hand up to Caius. "From another central being in the story. Edward. As the girl clings to your newborn mate, I assume you are involved."

Edward let out a breath as he looked down at Bella quickly. He let go of her hand and walked towards the Volturi.

Christina was quick to pull Bella closer, bringing Nessie and Jacob along with her. Nessie grabbed onto Greyson's hand, both of them seeking comfort from each other — as Bella and Christina did the same. Annie stayed underneath Seth's legs, peering out every once and a while towards her mother.

Edward extended his hand to Aro, letting the lead vampire read his every thought through the single touch. It was a quick second before Aro dropped Edward's hand, a grin appearing on his face as he looked towards the two children.

"I'd like to meet them."

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You stay away from my babies, you cretin!

Also, I can't believe I'm this close to the end.
I'm really not ready for this.